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Question: Is there any chance we will start giving acetaminophen to children with fevers (a temperature above 38 degrees) in the future? If not, what are the reasons why we can’t add this to our protocols?

Answer: Great question. To be honest, there has not been a great deal of discussion with regard to this. One has to consider the benefit of this medication for fever given the relative short transport times for the majority of patient contacts (we are aware of longer transports in rural areas) vs the time required for acetaminophen to impact fever. As with any new Medical Directive, there are training costs in terms of medical math for dosing calculations as well as medication costs for the operator. None of these are insurmountable in any way of course, however these may be some of the reasons that acetaminophen for fever has not been considered to this point.